Intellivision One of the Worst Console Launches...

[+JasonlikesINTV]

 

 

I dunno, man. You didn't seem so excited about my 2014 goal of porting my Atari 2600 Drunken Pooper to the Intellivision

I wasn't sure if you were serious. Hmmm....poop game. Sure

[Ransom]

I was an Atari kid, but one of my best friends had an Inty and we traded consoles for the summer one time. I loved that system back then, and I still do.

 

As for the worst launch...what a crock. Yet another writer who didn't bother to do the research.

[voltron]

I'd tread lightly on a site like this when inferring that intellivision owners = smart and atari owners = dumb

 

 

 

Must I remind you of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgA9uchdHtk&feature=youtu.be

 

 

 

[atari_thomas]

In the 80s me and my friends all had Ataris.

But lot's of magazines wrote about the Intellivision and praised its great graphics and great games.

 

So, 20 years later I finally bought an Intellivision on Ebay and tried to play it frequently.

Unfortunately, at least to me, I never saw any great graphics and the games were pretty shallow.

I also never got used to this strange controller.

 

Well ... to keep Intellivisions honour, the enclosure desing is really fabulous.

[+Gemintronic]

This is literally the first time I've heard of the launch as a failure. Revisionist history then?

[voltron]

 

Unfortunately, at least to me, I never saw any great graphics and the games were pretty shallow.

 

 

here is a comparison

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koTxt7D3e2I

[atarilovesyou]

Are there really people here at Atariage who think that people who owned/played Intellivision were/are more intelligent than Atari users? Surely you jest ...surely!

[+DZ-Jay]

Are there really people here at Atariage who think that people who owned/played Intellivision were/are more intelligent than Atari users? Surely you jest ...surely!

 

You never noticed but you were using the wrong URL for the site. It's OK, we understand. That's what happens to you, Atari-People. Here's the correct URL:

 

http://www.IntellivisionAge.com/

 

Go ahead, try it, and marvel in awe at your newfound superiority.

 

-dZ.

 

 

 

...

Just kidding!

[Walter Ives]

On 11/8/2013 at 6:06 PM, TrickyMoon said:

"WORST – INTELLIVISION (1980) -- The launch of this Atari 2600 competitor came with just four games, which would have been fine had they been any more exciting. But when you kick off with The Electric Company Math Fun and ABPA Backgammon, it's a pretty clear sign that you're not sure who your audience is. The system would get much better over time, however."

 

Had to fact check this...

 

while author is technically correct it doesnt tell full story. The "launch" w/ only 4 cartridges was actually in a single test market, rather than the global launch/hoopla you see with Xbox One and PS4.

Fresno was a bona fide test market, not a product launch. Mattel corporate was not at all sure the product was going to fly at $299 and was not about to commit to manufacturing hundreds of thousands of units without some evidence they would sell. Furthermore, Mattel management was under the misimpression that the Intellivision was a family-oriented general entertainment system and not a video game system for twelve-year-olds. By management I mean Spear, Wagner, Rochlis and Krakauer—Chang knew better. Although it's true that there were only 5 cartridge titles in-store on day 1 including the Blackjack and Poker pack-in, another three arrived over the next few days. The full test market line-up thus included Blackjack and Poker, Armor Battle, Baseball, Basketball, Football, Math Fun, Backgammon and Checkers.

The test market results were not good enough to convince management it the product would be a huge success, but good enough to continue. Conducting a nationwide launch was never the plan, and console inventory was never built up to sufficient levels to support that. Instead, product was rolled out into other markets starting the next March. This was practical because the product was being manufactured by Sylvania in the United States rather than being received in a single huge long lead-time shipment from Hong Kong and Sylvania could adjust its production to match actual demand. Roll-out began at major department store chains in three cities, The Broadway in the Los Angeles area, Marshall Field in the Chicago area and Macy's in New York. Mattel had trained store personnel and provided its own human demonstrators. It continued this with other stores as roll-out proceeded to other areas—a major effort undeserving of the "worst launch" epithet.

[Keatah]

On 11/19/2013 at 4:46 AM, DZ-Jay said:

Yeah, but back in the day, it wasn't really practical for most families to own more than one of these consoles. This is the reason why a lot of us nowadays have a very passionate affinity to a single console, because it is a direct connection to the memories of youth. -dZ.

A full-on undersea fiber cable!

[Keatah]

Regarding the launch? Well. I tend to recall product introductions back then, to us kids anyways, were simply tv and magazine ads. Something visual. Or perhaps an in store display. None of it was done with the overloud internet noise of today. And I rather liked it that way.

 

I just remember inty coming into my consciousness rather suddenly, but still low-key. Just an ad or something. And it showed up in Montgomery Wards or Sears and we bought it home and that was that. No fanfare, no drama, no sitting around clicking refresh mindlessly. One month I knew nothing of it. The next I had one. No kickstarter bullshit. No pre-ordering 2 years in advance.

 

I didn't care about launch titles. I didn't even know there was such thing as a launch. Stuff just came out and I enjoyed the subsequent flow of cartridges. I would eventually go on to get pretty much all of them over time.

[mr_me]

On 12/3/2022 at 8:07 AM, Walter Ives said:

Fresno was a bona fide test market, not a product launch. Mattel corporate was not at all sure the product was going to fly at $299 and was not about to commit to manufacturing hundreds of thousands of units without some evidence they would sell. Furthermore, Mattel management was under the misimpression that the Intellivision was a family-oriented general entertainment system and not a video game system for twelve-year-olds. By management I mean Spear, Wagner, Rochlis and Krakauer—Chang knew better. Although it's true that there were only 5 cartridge titles in-store on day 1 including the Blackjack and Poker pack-in, another three arrived over the next few days. The full test market line-up thus included Blackjack and Poker, Armor Battle, Baseball, Basketball, Football, Math Fun, Backgammon and Checkers.

 

The test market results were not good enough to convince management it the product would be a huge success, but good enough to continue. Conducting a nationwide launch was never the plan, and console inventory was never built up to sufficient levels to support that. Instead, product was rolled out into other markets starting the next March. This was practical because the product was being manufactured by Sylvania in the United States rather than being received in a single huge long lead-time shipment from Hong Kong and Sylvania could adjust its production to match actual demand. Roll-out began at major department store chains in three cities, The Broadway in the Los Angeles area, Marshall Field in the Chicago area and Macy's in New York. Mattel had trained store personnel and provided its own human demonstrators. It continued this with other stores as roll-out proceeded to other areas—a major effort undeserving of the "worst launch" epithet.

 

The industry news at the time was reporting that Mattel was planning a larger release in 1979 but GI had trouble producing ICs limiting Intellivision production.  The following are taken from an industry newsletter "Television Digest" referenced here.  https://www.atariarchive.org/mattel-intellivision-game-release-dates/

 

Nov 26, 1979

 

And Gottschalk print ads in December 1979 did indicate Baseball, Basketball, and Football cartridges were available in addition to the other four.  It also shows that Intellivision was available in "all 7 stores" and that Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack cartridge was the packin.  So those units with MLB as the packin could have been pre-production test units, rather than release units.

Edited December 5, 2022 by mr_me

[Illtiger1]

Nothing against the 2600, which is a great system in its own right, but the launch lineup was Air Sea Battle, Blackjack, Combat, Indy 500, Basic Math, Star Ship, Surround, Video Olympics, and Street Racer.  Hardly a showcase for what the system would be capable of in later years. From what I recall, in my opinion, Playstation 1 had pretty bad launch titles and PS2 wasn't much better.

Edited December 9, 2022 by Illtiger1

[1980gamer]

55 minutes ago, Illtiger1 said:

Nothing against the 2600, which is a great system in its own right, but the launch lineup was Air Sea Battle, Blackjack, Combat, Indy 500, Basic Math, Star Ship, Surround, Video Olympics, and Street Racer.  Hardly a showcase for what the system would be capable of in later years. From what I recall, in my opinion, Playstation 1 had pretty bad launch titles and PS2 wasn't much better.

At least the PS2 had all of the PS1 titles at launch.    Played a lot of Cool Boarders 3 with Dad and my nephew.

[Illtiger1]

3 minutes ago, 1980gamer said:

At least the PS2 had all of the PS1 titles at launch.    Played a lot of Cool Boarders 3 with Dad and my nephew.

Oh man... played the hell out of that one in college!

[Keatah]

3 hours ago, Illtiger1 said:

Nothing against the 2600, which is a great system in its own right, but the launch lineup was Air Sea Battle, Blackjack, Combat, Indy 500, Basic Math, Star Ship, Surround, Video Olympics, and Street Racer.  Hardly a showcase for what the system would be capable of in later years. From what I recall, in my opinion, Playstation 1 had pretty bad launch titles and PS2 wasn't much better.

I clearly remember the launch titles and the awesomely awesome times we had with them. They were simple games. There wasn't much of them. And never is a launch title really representative of what would be discovered possible years later. But we enjoyed everything we got! We were happy to see the catalog expand. But we didn't require it. Just getting new games was a bonus compared against the fixed-function Pong-Tank-Speedway-Hockey stuff.

 

Today it seems as if everything has to be full-size productions and lots of them. All initial titles are bearing the load. Make it or break it.

 

The internet is too crazed and sped up in its own head. Nothanks!

 

 

[Sinjinhawke]

I only have a couple PS3 games and one of them is Cool Boarders 3. 

[Walter Ives]

On 12/5/2022 at 7:42 AM, mr_me said:

The industry news at the time was reporting that Mattel was planning a larger release in 1979 but GI had trouble producing ICs limiting Intellivision production.

Mattel, personified in Ray Wagner and Art Spear, was always planning to conduct a market test before any larger release: the whole schedule slipped by about a year. At 1978 Winter CES Rochlis was secretly alerting select major retailers that Mattel expected to ship product by that Christmas; at 1979 Winter CES the system was the highlight of the Mattel booth and "the industry news at the time was reporting that" Master Components would be available by June 1 with an MSRP of $165. In an unusual twist, the only part of the project that was ready in time was the software. Well, Football may have been a hair late for masked ROMs to been fabricated by Christmas 1978, but was easily ready in time to have made the June 1979 date.

 

WJI